How To Draw A Volute, or Acanthus Scroll

How to Draw a Volute, or Acanthus Scroll about:reader?url=http://surfacefragments.blogspot.ae/2011/02/ho...
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How to Draw a Volute, or Acanthus

Scroll
7-9 minutes
I don't think there is a more beautiful line in the world than the
curve described above.
Zeising
went so far as to claim for the Golden ratio that;
"... [It is] the universal law in which is contained the ground-
principle of all formative striving for beauty and completeness
in the realms of both nature and art, and which permeates, as
a paramount spiritual ideal, all structures, forms and
proportions, whether cosmic or individual, organic or
inorganic, acoustic or optical; which finds its fullest
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realization, however, in the human form."
Well actually the nautilus shell is not a true Phi-spiral, but it's
pretty close so we'll go with Zeising's effusiveness for now.
This is Part IV in the
series How to Draw the Acanthus

, and deals with the topic of how to draw a volute, or acanthus
scroll.
I don't mean to mislead with the opening image, but in this

instance we are going to look specifically at the Ionic volute
(not the curve described by the logarithmic spiral above). I
have linked out in this article to other mathematical scrolls if
you're interested in further reading regarding Fibonacci
numbers, Golden Spiral, or logarithmic spirals.
But first, a little background. The following quote is from

Elements of Geometrical Drawing, by John Henry Spooner
(1901), describing the Ionic volute.
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Erechtheum capital from Stuart and Revett’s The Antiquities

of Athens (1790)
James Stuart and Nicholas Revett’s
The Antiquities of Athens

(1790) was the book that popularized the Ionic order of the
Erechtheum
through it's beautiful illustrations. Historian
Calder Loth
points out that "The Erechtheum’s volutes are the most
complex of all Greek Ionic capitals, having a series of tightly
spaced creases or canals resembling fine drapery. The
central swag in the canals, a characteristic feature of Greek
Ionic capitals, emphasizes the drapery-like character."
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Corinthian Acanthus Scroll
The volute made it's way into the Corinthian order too.
A Textbook on Ornamental Design

(1901) introduces the
Choragic monument of Lysicrates

in Athens as "the principal structure of Greek origin designed
in the Corinthian order", and describes the section of
Acanthus scroll pictured above as showing...
"... not only the elaboration of ornament characteristic of this

order, but also a principle of ornamental design that is of the
utmost importance in its relation to the lack of invention of
new forms and the restraining influences of certain art
periods. It will be observed here that the various parts of the
acanthus scroll grow out of one another in a continuous line.
This is a principle of design that originated with the Greeks,
and was continued by the Romans."
So we're beginning to see the importance of the scroll design,
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whether as described by the natural roll of a fern or shell, as

evidenced in Greek, Roman or
Islamic architecture
, or as a mathematical design principle adopted by the likes of
Le Corbusier
. It seems we should probably learn how to draw one of these
things then, right?
There is ample historic precedent for drawing the volute, but

oddly the information seems to vary. A number of different
methods are described in
The New Metal Worker Pattern Book

, by George Watson (1901). Spooner maintains that the ratio
for describing it's curve is 7 : 6 : 5, and claims that the Greeks
would agree.
Another source
follows a ratio of 6.5 : 5.5 : 4.5. [Though I am strictly a
layman, these ratios seem like approximations to me; 7 : 6 is
surely not the same as 6 : 5, nor is 6.5 : 5.5 as 5.5 : 4.5 (but
please feel free to enlighten me). A more accurate Ionic ratio
would be 7 : 6 : 5.143, which is what I will use here].
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The point is that although the ratios may change, our method
for constructing the volute remains the same. We could
substitute 7 : 5.5 : 4.321 (which would describe a different
curve) just as easily, but for now we will concentrate on
drawing the distinctive ram's horn shape of the scrolls of an
Ionic capital as described by Spooner's ratio.
Here are the steps you need to follow:
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Fig. 1
Step 1:
I decided arbitrarily to start with a rectangle 3.5cm wide and
6cm tall [Fig. 1], and to start the convolutions of the curve at
A
, 3.5cm from the base of the volute.
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Fig. 2
Step 2:
So, according to the traditional ratio of 7 : 6 : 5.143, we divide
the length of
AB
by 1.1666666666 to give us the length of
BC
. [In the case of the ratio 6.5 : 5.5 : 4.5, we would divide by
1.1818181818].
Continuing in this manner, we determine the length of CD

[Fig. 2], by dividing BC by 1.1666666666. This gives a length
for CD of 2.57cm .
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Fig. 3
Step 3:
Next, draw lines through the points
ABCD
at 45º [Fig. 3] to where they intersect to form a rectangle in
the middle.
Fig. 4
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Step 4: See that little rectangle that you just made? You'll
have to find the midpoints of each of those sides. Let's call
them 1,2,3, and 4. Now draw lines perpendicularly from those
midpoints to intersect AB, BC, and CD [Fig.4].
Fig. 5
Step 5:
Using
1
as the center of the first arc, describe the curve connecting
the top of the volute to
AB
[Fig.5]. Similarly; using
2
as the center of the second arc, we describe the curve
connecting
AB
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to
BC
, use
3
as the center to describe the curve from
BC
to
CD
, and
4
as the center to describe the curve from
CD
back around for the first full rotation of the spiral
Fig. 6
Step 6:
Let's now draw the second, inner rectangle
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EFGH
which we will use to draw the second revolution of the spiral
[Fig. 6].
According to our 7 : 6 ratio, DE = 2.2cm [CD ÷ 1.16666666].
EF = DE ÷ 1.16666666 = 1.9cm.
FG = EF ÷ 1.16666666 = 1.6cm.
GH = FG ÷ 1.16666666 = 1.37cm
Fig. 7
Step 7:
As in Step 3, draw lines from points
E,F,G,H
, at 45º to where they intersect in the middle to form a
rectangle [Fig. 7].
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Fig. 8
Step 8:
Draw lines perpendicularly from points 5,6,7 and 8 to connect
with
DE, EF
,
FG
, and
GH
[Fig. 8].
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Fig. 9
Step 9: Connect the dots (as in Step 5), using points 5,6, and
7 as the centers of our arcs [Fig. 9].
Fig. 10
Step 10: If you wished, you could repeat Step 6 through 9, to
give you a third inner curve to the spiral, but I'm going to stop
here. From the last point (8), instead of describing a short arc,
we continue around and draw a full circle [Fig. 10], which is
the central circle of our newly completed volute. So there you
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have it.
Fig. 11
Step 11:
I could have just stopped at
Step 10
, but I'm going to add two more steps. I want to extend and
soften the curve at the top (or the "thread", to borrow a term
from a stair-makers lexicon). This will make it look more like
the acanthus scroll. In order to do that, take the line that
passed through
Point 6
and
Point 1
[
Fig. 11
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] and extend it out to the left. Here's where a little creativity

comes in. Draw a line at 45º that intersects with your
horizontal line at point
a'
. You can position that line wherever you want.
Now draw an arc centered on Point a', that goes from Point 1
and stops where it intersects the 45º line.
Fig. 12
Step 12:
Now we're going to finish it off. Using a point (
b'
) further down the 45º line as a new center point for the last
section of the arc, connect
Point 2
and
Point 3
[Fig. 12].
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Here is the completed scroll without all the construction lines,

and with one of the beautiful ornament drawings of the
acanthus scroll from a previous blog post superimposed for
comparison:
17 of 17 29/05/2018, 10:45

How To Draw A Volute, or Acanthus Scroll

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How to Draw a Volute, or Acanthus Scroll about:reader?url=http://surfacefragments.blogspot.ae/2011/02/ho...

How to Draw a Volute, or Acanthus

realization, however, in the human form."

series How to Draw the Acanthus

I don't mean to mislead with the opening image, but in this

But first, a little background. The following quote is from

Erechtheum capital from Stuart and Revett’s The Antiquities

The Antiquities of Athens

Corinthian Acanthus Scroll

A Textbook on Ornamental Design

Choragic monument of Lysicrates

"... not only the elaboration of ornament characteristic of this

So we're beginning to see the importance of the scroll design,

whether as described by the natural roll of a fern or shell, as

There is ample historic precedent for drawing the volute, but

The New Metal Worker Pattern Book

Here are the steps you need to follow:

Continuing in this manner, we determine the length of CD

According to our 7 : 6 ratio, DE = 2.2cm [CD ÷ 1.16666666].

] and extend it out to the left. Here's where a little creativity

Here is the completed scroll without all the construction lines,

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